The accident's investigation also brought into focus several
generic safety issues, such as pressure applied on charter pilots
by customers; night flight into airports near mountainous terrain;
and the ambiguity of some Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) rules.[3]

Contents

Flight
history

The captain and first officer reported for duty at Avjet's Burbank,
California facility around noon on the day of the accident.
After checking the weather and the aircraft, they embarked on an
11-minute repositioning flight to Los Angeles International
Airport (LAX) to pick up their passengers. The flight was
originally scheduled to leave LAX at 16:30 MST, but departed after a 41-minute delay
for late passengers at 17:11 MST.[1][2]

Earlier in the day, an FAA specialist had informed the crew that
it would be illegal to land at night in Aspen under instrument flight rules. In
addition, the crew were aware that due to noise
abatement restrictions, their jet aircraft was required to land
at Aspen by the 18:58 MST night curfew. Following the delayed
departure from LAX, their estimated arrival time was 18:46 MST,
twelve minutes before the curfew took effect.[1][2]

As the flight approached Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, it became
evident that some of the other inbound flights were performing missed
approaches, as they had been unable to complete an instrument
approach to the airport's runway. The airport is surrounded by
high terrain on all sides and a fairly steep descent is required in
order to land.[1][2]

At 18:56:06 MST, the flight was cleared for the VOR/DME-C instrument
approach to the airport, whereupon it proceeded to the Red
Table VOR, executed a sequence of designated step-down maneuvers
and began final approach to the runway.
As it continued its descent past the missed
approach point – where the runway must be in sight to
continue – the pilots had still not visually located the
runway in the increasing darkness and snow showers. At 19:01:57
MST, while in a steep left bank, the aircraft crashed into the
terrain, killing all 18 persons on board.[1][2]

Part of the subsequent NTSB investigation[1]
focused on the fact that the instrument approach at the
destination airport was not legal for night landing, and the
overall pressure applied on the charter company and flight crew by
the charter customer to complete the flight into the original
destination.[3]
According to witnesses, the charter customer, upon learning that
the flight might have to be diverted to an alternate airport due to
the night landing restriction, had his business assistant call
Avjet management, to "let them know that the airplane was not going
to be redirected".[1]

In addition, witnesses claimed that when the charter customer
learned that the captain had discussed the possible diversion with
some of the passengers waiting for the late arrivals, he had his
assistant call Avjet to instruct the captain to "keep his comments
to himself."[1]

The Avjet charter department scheduler subsequently testified
that "the captain felt that it was important to land at [Aspen]
because of the substantial amount of money that the [charter]
customer spent for a dinner party."[1]

A daytime fair weather view of the approach to runway 15 at Aspen
airport, depicting accident site of N303GA (NTSB report).

Based on information obtained from the cockpit voice recorder,
the flight attendant had escorted an unidentified male passenger to
the flight deck's jump seat during the
approach sequence. According to the NTSB's analysis, "the presence
of this passenger in the cockpit, especially if it were the charter
customer, most likely further heightened the pressure on the flight
crew to land at [Aspen]."

The NTSB issued its final report on June 11, 2002, with the
following Probable Cause:[1]

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the
probable cause of this accident was the flight crew’'s operation of
the airplane below the minimum descent
altitude without an appropriate visual reference for the
runway.

Contributing to the cause of the accident were the Federal
Aviation Administration's (FAA) unclear wording of the March 27,
2001 Notice to Airmen regarding
the nighttime restriction for the VOR/DME-C approach to the airport
and the FAA'’s failure to communicate this restriction to the Aspen
tower; the inability of the flight crew to adequately see the
mountainous terrain because of the darkness and the weather
conditions; and the pressure on the captain to land from the
charter customer and because of the airplane’'s delayed departure
and the airport’'s nighttime landing restriction.

Aftermath

After the accident, Avjet decided to prohibit airport operations
at Aspen and three other mountainous airports between sunset and
sunrise. It also issued the following memorandum to its flight
crews and schedulers:[1]

"[I]f you cannot accomplish a landing and be on the ground at
one of these airports before sunset you must divert to a suitable
alternate. All passengers for one of these destinations must be
informed of this policy. Flight crew members must report any
violation of this policy or pressure from passengers to violate
this policy to the Director of Operations or Chief Pilot."

Avjet also added the following policy to its Operations Manual
after the accident:

"Only an Avjet assigned crewmember, check airman, or FAA
observer may occupy the observer's seat (jump seat) in any Avjet
aircraft. Charter passengers shall never be allowed to occupy the
observer's seat at any time."

Litigation

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the families of three of
the victims in Los Angeles, CA. After a jury found the
captain and Avjet Corporation negligent, an out of court settlement was reached, where
Avjet agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of US$11.7M in
damages.[4]
There were reportedly also other settlements for other victims.[5]